Rare fish netted

Press, 10 September 1987, Page 2

Rare fish netted

A stranger from the deep arrived at the Canterbury Museum yesterday — a rare dragonet fish caught recently in 90 fathoms of water by the crew of the Lyttelton based trawler Ida Marion. The boat, owned by Mr Dick Brown, was fishing 16 miles south-east of Point Gibson when it netted the 9cm-long dragonet — one of the few specimens to be caught and the first to be recorded at the museum for 20 years. The fish appears to be confined to waters off the east coast of the South Island and southern Australia. Described as a small, unusually shaped fish, the dragonet ranges in length from Bcm to 13cm. Orange-pink in colour, there are strong three-pronged spines on each gill cover. When the fish is alarmed, the spines are spread out to the side

“making the head look larger and exposing the sharp tips.” The large, bulbous eyes lie on top of the head to provide improved vision for a bottom-dwelling fish used to the dim light at such depths. The dragonet has another less endearing characteristic — its other name, stinkfish, is apparently caused by the pungent odour it gives off when caught. But undeterred by this reputaton, Canterbury Museum staff were yesterday examining the specimen before preparing it for preservation. With the fishing industry trawling at increasing depths, new specimens of deep-water fish are appearing regularly, according to Mr Geoff Tunniclife, a zoologist “The Japanese are discovering fish that have never been previously recorded,” he said.